Precious Thief
by lilchibisaku
Summary: Jounouchi is a thief who steals food for a living. In an attempt to get out of debt, he just stole a non perishable item on accident. SJ
1. Chapter 1

**Precious Thief**

**Disclaimer: Don't own YuGiOh. So… um, I don't know.**

**A/N: It's set in Ancient Egypt. It has a bit of cursing. Seto might be a little OOC so please bare with me. I hope you like it, please read and review!**

**Chapter 1: Encounter**

The village bazaar was buzzing with people, women mostly, who were eager to get the best prices before the sun set and had to return to cook dinner for their growing families. At one booth a woman was seen haggling to the merchant who wouldn't give it for anything less than 2 silver coins. A group of old ladies were seen walking and gossiping at the same time as children ran around them in exuberance. But in a corner stall a young man barely 17 was walking up to one of the apple baskets. The old man chatted unknowingly to his son standing next to him. The son stared warily at the blonde as he happened to pass as his old man was blind.

The lean blonde looked at the baskets and asked how much. "10 copper." The son said still wary of him. 'I can't afford it… I only have 4.' Jounouchi thought. 'I could haggle or steal again...' He began debating silently when he remembered that it was the only money he had and if he spent it, he really would be broke. So when they weren't looking Jounouchi slyly stole a few apples and walked off like it was nothing. The son realized what a mistake he had done and ran after him. "… Hey! That man just stole 3 of my apples! Come back here thief!"

'Oh man. Gotta run faster! I've got to stop stealing from the same booth every time! At least I get exercise right?' Jou thought as he started sweating from all the pressure of not looking back. He could still hear the hoard running behind him shouting "Kill the thief!" 'I got to lose them or dad's gonna kill me if I'm late and I don't have food! Aw…' Then he sped up a little more and quickly turned a corner to an alley he knew well and hid behind the first corner he saw until the crowd passed.

A tri-colored spiked head popped out from one of the doorways. "Hey Jou. You ok?" Sighing in relief he turned his head a bit and wiped some of his sweat off. "Yeah Yug, I'm fine." Yugi smiled brightly and wiggled his index finger to tell him to come in. Jou crawled into the little doorway and dusted himself off.

* * *

"You stole from that old man again didn't you?" Yugi glared at him angrily when he showed him the apples. He smiled sheepishly, "I had too. I only had 4 of these and well you know. The son's mean, he never let's me haggle! Anyway, you know you look ridiculous when you do that?" Then he ruffled his hair.

Yugi batted away his hand. "Stop messing up my hair. I know that's not why you stole. You're father's drinking again isn't he?" "Noooo…" he began looking towards the doorway and scratching his cheek. He noticed Atemu crawling through the hole and Jounouchi smiled. "Hey! Just in time!" then he began running towards the opening whispering, "Thanks for taking the little guy off my back!" and started crawling.

"Stop right there Jou." Yugi said gripping his leg and tried to drag him out. "NO! LEMME GO!" he said trying to shake Yugi's grip off his leg. "Not until you explain yourself!"

"I'm old ok! Leave old men alone and let them take off with their stash of stolen goods!" he began to cry out clutching to the little doorway. Yugi gave a grunt and tugged one final time before it sent Yugi and Jounouchi sprawling onto the ground. "Hmm. Apples." The pharaoh looking amused, raised an eyebrow at the two, reached down picked up a stolen apple and bit it. "Tasty."

Jounouchi glared at the pharaoh for eating one of the apples. "I was going to use that you know." Throwing Jou a look Atemu said, "Yah well, my apple now." And then stuck his nose up. Both just gaped at him. Yugi sat up and got teary. "What about me? I got no welcome kiss."

He shrugged his shoulders and kissed Yugi's forehead. "You were preoccupied. So, Jou, explain the apples." He waved the bitten apple in front of Jou's face.

Jounouchi looked a bit angry and folded his legs Indian style. "I got desperate ok? I have almost no money, so I had to steal. Dad blew all the money I was saving up to buy food for some prostitutes. How do you think I felt seeing some _whore_ doing it _with my dad _on _my _bed? I freaking washed my sheets 5 times and it still smells!" he complained.

"Well I would have given you money or food if you needed it." Atemu said looking concerned. He pulled Yugi into his lap. "And have my dad asking were I got all this stuff? I think not. He'd beat me up for the money more often. We're already in debt and I can't pay off the loan." He looked at the ground and drew circles in the sand. "I need to find a new place to steal things from. I already got blind man, his son, some fat butcher and a couple 10 ladies chasing after me every time I come to the market. I am running out of disguises you know! How many blondes do you think live in this area?" He yelled slammed his fist onto the ground as he let out some steam.

"How many places are you not known?" Yugi asked curiously. "Well I haven't been to the other side of the city or outside it. Three-fourths of the city is residential, and I haven't been to the pubs because well there's nothing to steal. I've been to all the markets on this side and of course I haven't been to the palace…" he began trailing off. Yugi looked at Atemu and he looked back. Then they glanced at Jounouchi who was in deep thought.

Suddenly Jounouchi jumped up. "Yug! You just gave me a great idea! Thank you, thank you!" He then kissed both Yugi and Atemu on the cheek and stuffed the apples into his bag. They both blinked in wonder. "Hope you don't mind me taking back my apple." Then he reached over and snatched the bitten apple and hurriedly crawled out of the room.

"You guys are the best!" Jou yelled and suddenly they all had a bad feeling about this.

* * *

Under the light of the moon, Jounouchi stood outside under one of the open palace windows. He was dressed in a black and atop his head was a black cloth wrapped around his head to conceal his golden hair. He would never dye his hair because he absolutely loved his hair. He was obsessed and washed in the stream nearby everyday. He spent at least 2 hours on his hair, but right, off the topic. Swinging a handmade claw onto the window still, he began to cautiously climbing up the rope.

'I better not die because I just used my last damned coppers on this rope.' He thought and hefted himself into the still. When he finally got on top of it, he fell over. 'Right, Jou, stealthy, real stealthy. What would Yugi be saying to me now if he knew what I was doing?' He thought pulling the rope up and then cringed. He could imagine Yugi running after him with a knife since he was one of the palace cooks. But unlike the others, Yugi was allowed to live outside the palace walls because of his relationship with Yami.

He moved from wall to wall until he reached the deserted kitchen but not before he tripped a couple of times. What? He needed food supplies, not treasures. Besides it was food first, money later. Plus he was always hungry. Never say no to food when you are a starving man and he was growing.

It was logical to him that to find the best foods he would have to go to the palace. If he was caught he could pretend to be one of the servants who were sneaking in for a midnight snack. Then after, he could go see if he could steal a golden coin from someone. Looking around he took out his bag and began filling it up. On the other side of the kitchen a servant was too making out with food.

Both not knowing each was there, Jounouchi back tracked to where he left out the figs. The servant, who was currently eating off the dish, was heading unbeknownst towards Jounouchi and crashed into him. It resulted in each giving off girlish shrieks and the servant dropping the dish. A guard, passing by, heard the shrieks rushed in. "Who's there?" he demanded.

Jounouchi's eyes widened when he saw the guard and began panicking. 'Oh crap. I hope the guard doesn't notice me!' He began moving slowly to the door and spotted the servant who just slipped out the doorway. The guard began moving towards him. 'I'm in full black right. He can't see me, I hope.' He began chanting silently blend in, blend in, blend in. As soon as he got to the door, Jounouchi decided to make a brake for it and started running, but tripped.

The guard turned around and moved the candle to see the intruder. Jounouchi got up and began running for his life knowing that either way he'd be killed. I mean come on, full bag of stolen food right in the eye sight of the guard. "Hey you! Thief! Stop!" He groaned silently. 'Why do I suck so much in stealing? I mean every one always catches me in the act. I'm cursed I tell you! Cursed!'

* * *

A loud girlish shriek and loud thunderous running coming from the level under the High Priest's room woke up a half naked man who began scratching his head. He could hear panicked yelling downstairs. "What the hell? That better not be Mokuba trying to kill that monkey again. I swear I should have not gotten that monkey for him. Damn him and his puppy-eyes." He growled and decided to get up and find out. He dressed himself and padded down the stairs before he was knocked down. He flew a couple of feet before hitting the wall. Groaning he sat upright and shoved the unknown person off him.

"Ow." The servant slowly moved and stood up. He looked at the body he had tackled when he was turning a corner. His eyes widened in horror "Oh my, I'm sorry!" and immediately flopped down to the ground to bow for forgiveness. Seto glared at him. "If you're so sorry, you better tell me what just happened."

"M-my priest, I-I was down to the kitchens for a snack when I encountered another. I dropped a dish upon crashing into the man." He said still bowing. "Is that why there was a scream that woke me up?" Seto said angrily. The servant shaking continued, "Y-yes, I dropped the dish and both us screamed in surprise. And a guard came in and the whole floor panicked and… we didn't mean to wake you. I'm just a lowly servant, but please, spare me."

"Leave." Watching the servant run off in a hurry, he decided to go back to his room. 'At least it's not Mokuba this time.' He was beginning to close the door when he heard someone yelling "Stop!" Opening the door again, he stuck his head out and watched as 3 or 4 guards ran after a boy no older than 17. As the boy was about to pass, something possessed him to open the door more, stick his hand out to drag the boy by the arm and into his room.

Quickly slamming the door, he pulled the boy into his arms and covered his mouth. Jounouchi began panicking because he couldn't breathe and this man was crushing him to his chest. He squirmed a little, but Seto just held him tighter and leaned against the door until the guards passed. Jounouchi, who got fed up, forced his mouth to move out of Seto's grip and bit down on the hand hard.

His eyes widened in pain and he released Jounouchi in a split second. Jounouchi then took in his surroundings and was slightly amazed that this room was very expensive, yet tasteless. The nickname money-bags flew to the top of Jounouchi's list of insults.

"Ow! You little… what are you a dog? You better not have rabies!" Jounouchi's eyes flashed angrily. He could remember when Otogi made him dress like a dog. Let's just say, Otogi didn't just come out with a black-eye, he came out with an arm, a leg, a couple of ribs broken and his family jewels kicked multiple times. "I'm not a mutt and I don't have rabies!"

Seto, still nursing his hand, noticed the bag full of food and raised his eyebrow. Then he retorted, "Yeah, well you're as clumsy as a puppy and the bite of a fierce ugly dog. As far as I'm concerned, you don't qualify as a thief!"

"I'm not as ugly as you are cruel!" Seto amused started laughing and backed Jounouchi into the wall. Then he smirked. "Really? I'm not cruel, just a tad mean. Either way you admitted that you're ugly." Jounouchi began fuming and was so angry he couldn't even form sentences. "I didn't! Argh! You suck!"

Seto began laughing a little. "You must be a little baldy to wear that turban." Jounouchi feeling insulted began protecting his turban. Seto curious reached out and began pulling on the black sheet. Jounouchi pressed the "hat" onto his head more with one hand and batting Seto's hand with another. "Hey! What are you doing? No touchy!" They began a tug-of-war and Seto used his free hand to start tickling him. Being incredibly ticklish, he began laughing and moved both hands to try and cover his belly.

He saw his advantage and removed the sheet from Jounouchi's head. "Hey!" Jounouchi began complaining. Seto marveled at Jounouchi's golden hair. It looked so soft that he reached out a hand to touch it. "You have beautiful hair." He whispered and Jounouchi blushed at the compliment. His hand moved from part of Jou's hair to his cheek. He began caressing his cheek.

Jounouchi tried glaring at him but was failing miserably. Seto didn't know why his mouth went dry when he looked at the thief's lips. Something in the back of both men's minds screamed _You're straight! _when each thought the other was kind of cute. Seto licked his lips a bit. He thought that maybe kissing him would help the dryness so he leaned down and in one swoop captured his lips.

After the kiss, Seto moved his head and looked satisfied with the reaction Jounouchi gave him. "Hmm, tasty." Jounouchi blushed a little and lowered his head. "You really don't know who I am, do you?" he said lifting his head.

Jou shook his head furiously saying no and began playing with his clothes. Seto smiled, "What's you name?" Lifting his head back up, he smiled back cutely, "Jounouchi…"

"What no first name? Guess no one really wants to name a mutt after all." Seto smirked. "Argh! You… I… Gah! You're so annoying!" Jounouchi just threw up his hands and shoved him away forcefully.

Then he looked out the window and realized that he had to get home before dawn. "Catch you later money-bags." Then he ran to the window and began climbing down. Seto stuck his head out and called, "Mutt, wait. Forgot your bag."

Seto then slipped a gold coin into the bag. He figured that he needed it since Jounouchi was obviously stupid enough to steal a whole bag of food instead of money. But unknown to Seto, Jounouchi had been smart enough to steal a couple of rubies when he hid from the guard in one of the rooms before he was caught. Then he stashed them at the bottom of the bag. Then he waved the bag and sheet at him. Blushing in embarrassment, he climbed back up and reached out. Seto couldn't resist how cute Jounouchi looked so he stole another kiss from him and handed him his things. "You really are a cute puppy." Jounouchi just blushed again.

Half way down Jounouchi suddenly gaped as he realized what Seto just did. "That bastard stole two kisses from me!" He hurriedly climbed all way down looked up and shook his fist at the imaginary Seto. "Darn you! I can't believe you stole two kisses from me! Just wait until I get my hands on you!" Inside Seto just started laughing at how dense he was.


	2. Chapter 2

**Precious Thief**

**Disclaimer: Uh… it's in the first chapter.**

**A/N: I know this is in ancient Egypt and it's supposed to be Seth here not Seto. If you want to think of Seto as Seth you're more than welcome to but I just like this pairing better and I always type Seto instead so yah. Also thanks for the reviews! **

**To the anonymous Isis Ishtar: Haha… it does work as a one-shot but I already got a plan to end it with a certain thing that Seto will say to Jou. xD **

**Chapter 2: More than Just an Acquaintance**

Poking his head through the door, he glanced around to see if the coast was clear. Looking once more to the left, he ran into his room and barricaded the door. "Yeah!" the blonde said to himself and began rubbing his hands together. "Jou, you sly dog! Heheh… I can't believe I got through to my room without my dad coming in drunk." Then he shuddered as an image of his father walking towards him swinging his arms like a banshee around a busty woman who had put on way to many layers of make-up to cover her hideous face while he groped her occasionally as he made an attempt to yell at him came into his mind.

He flopped himself down on his straw mattress and began scratching at the wall's indentation. It didn't use to be there but due to the fact that he had a habit of scratching that part of the wall when he was bored it gradually deepened. And this was the only time he was bored. All the other times he was with his friends or raiding the market. But since he wasn't stealing today he had time left over. He groaned silently and thought, 'Why do I do the exact same thing everyday. Now I know why I shouldn't steal valuable stuff. Takes away my stealing time…'

He only stole in the mornings when the bazaar was at its second busiest hour which was after he wakes up. Right now he was supposed to be sleeping but he came in at the crack of dawn because he was over at Yugi's playing games and making bets with Honda and dice-boy but he fell asleep after getting bored of watching the two argue over something so trivial. Jounouchi guessed that he had enough time to over sleep and still wake up to make breakfast.

It had been a few days since he'd broken into the palace walls and stole a couple of rubies and sadly, lots of food. Needless to say, his father was a bit happier that they had more food, but was extremely suspicious of him. "Ya didn't take any my money did ya?" The older Jounouchi slurred looking at him, eyes in slits as he searched through the bag of food. Luckily, he had taken out the valuables before dad got to them.

Either way, Jounouchi was extremely happy because he could sell the rubies and the profit from it would last him for 2 months rent and a couple weeks of food with a little bit left over to buy whatever he wanted. He had stashed the money in various places to hide it from his father.

Sighing he rolled over onto his belly and reached over to the little table next to his bed. He grabbed the coin off the table and looked at it. He fingered it lightly as it glistened gold in the light. The image of the chocolate haired blue eyed man filled his mind and he looked backed to when he met him a few days ago.

Then he sighed thinking, 'I wonder if he was the one who give it to me… I remember taking the rubies, but not this coin… maybe I should ask him.' He lifted his fingers to his lips and blushed when he remembered the two kisses he'd stolen. He then rolled over on his back and let the coin roll out of his hands and onto the dirt floor forgotten. 'I wonder why he kissed me. He tasted good. Almost like he just ate chocolate before he did.' He groaned happily. (A/N: Ok maybe they don't have chocolate or maybe they do. Just substitute it for something that tastes similar to it.)

'Damn I love chocolate. I want another kiss…' Then he jumped up. 'I know! I still need to ask about the coin and I wanna know why he kissed me! So it's like killing two birds with a stone!' He thought pumping his fist twice. "Yeah!"

On the other side of the mud hut his father who had passed out a couple hours ago stirred and then bellowed, "Shut up you good-for-nothing bastard of a son! I'm trying to get some sleep over here! And if you really want to help your pops out, you can start making food!" Jounouchi glared at him through the walls and began pulling some clothes. He made his way over to the "ancient" kitchen and began grumbling about how old men are just too grumpy for their own good.

* * *

­­­­

Once again under the moonlight, the blonde stood under the palace windows but this time under what he thought was the same window as last time. He swung his rope-and-claw onto the window, tugged it a bit, and began to start climbing. He effortlessly pulled himself up and onto the balcony and began to pick the door/window's lock. (I added a balcony because well… it just seems much more logical. HAHA, it's going to be like Romeo and Juliet except in this case Romeo (Jou) is using a rope and uh… Juliet is the manlier of the two. Laughs.)

He almost picked the lock when Seto opened the door. "…" Jounouchi looked up and started sweat dropping. "Uh… hi?" He smiled sheepishly with his hands still on the deformed bobby pin that was currently hanging off the lock of the door. Seto looked at him like he was stupid. "What are you doing?"

Seto had been taking a bath when he heard something rattling outside. So he quickly finished his bath, grabbed a towel, and wrapped it around himself. He walked out to find his stupid little puppy trying to pick his lock, thus the awkward position Jounouchi found himself in.

"I'll just be going now heheh…" The blonde laughed nervously and gave a weak smile as he eased himself up and tried to walk past Seto. Blue eyes followed the blonde as he tried to push through observing the clothes Jounouchi was wearing. It was the same as the other night and he began wondering if he had any other clothes, although it did give him quite a nice view.

Normally he would have taken the intruder by the arm and just thrown him off the balcony like he did with all the others and let the guards on the palace grounds deal with them, but he found himself gripping Jounouchi's arm and instead of throwing him out he pulled him into his room but blocked his way to the door.

"Hey!" Jounouchi glared at him still trying to reach the door. This wasn't his plan. He originally was suppose to go get food, get chased by the guards, THEN talk to him, then shimmy way out of the palace grounds without being noticed, and finally run scared like a little girl into his bed with his stash of goods. Talk about stupid plan right? Yeah well… it worked and he only included the chased by guards part because it usually happened anyway.

"What are you doing here mutt? I can have you thrown in the dungeons and executed just for sneaking in through my window." He growled at him even though he didn't really want that to happen. Wow… talk about hot and sexy even when mad was the only thing going through Jou's one-track mind. He was about ready to drool and kiss him. The only thing stopping him was that he was suppose to be down there right now not here with the man of his dreams… literally.

Jounouchi in rage at the dog name spoke before thinking and mistakenly told him his plan. "… and that's why I'm here." Seto just raised an eyebrow. "Mutt, you know you just proved me right when I said last time that you can't qualify as a thief. You just told me your whole plan of trying to raid the palace. A good thief never reveals his plan. I don't understand why you do this; you've already stolen enough food to feed 3 huge starving families for 2 days. Either way I now have proof against you that you were trying to steal again."

"Argh! Why am I arguing with you when I'm supposed to be on step two?" He said throwing his usable arm in the air in frustration and shoving a number two sign in Seto's face to show his point. "We haven't begun arguing, it's only been 3 minutes." A smug look crossed Seto's face as he observed Jounouchi getting angrier by the minute. His grip had loosened through the heated conversation as he visibly relaxed laughing silently at the puppy's antics. Seto's hand had slid down from Jounouchi's arm and now rested on the blonde's wrist.

Jou looked at him incredulously, "And how long does it take for it to be an actual argument for you? Over 15 minutes?"

The same triumphant smirk as last time slid onto his face as he replied. "Yeah. About." He knew this comment would drive Jounouchi crazy. He didn't know why but being around him and getting a reaction from his puppy made him feel happy and all warm and tingly inside. He hadn't felt like this in a long time.

Seto couldn't help but smile around him and the urge to kiss him again began to get stronger. The past few days all he thought about was him. It made him go crazy for a while and he was still in denial when Mokuba teased him that he had a crush on someone. He wouldn't accept the fact that he was supposedly in love, but he won't say that he didn't feel anything for him.

Jounouchi on the other hand was becoming hostile and angry at the fact that Seto wasn't listening to him. He growled angrily. He didn't know what he ever saw in him. All he did since the time he met him to now was teasing and making him confused. Jounouchi's voice broke into Seto's thoughts when he heard, "You're such a prick! I don't know why I even came here in the first place!"

He wrenched his wrist away from Seto's hand. He slightly wondered when Seto's hand had dropped from his biceps to his wrist. Dropping the thought, he pushed away from him and stalked towards the door only to find himself being pulled back into the arms of the man he was angry with. "Hey! Let go of…oomph!" His eyes widened as Seto's mouth covered his opened ones. He groaned slightly as a tongue slid into his mouth and caressed his.

Then someone began pounding on the door. "Big brother! You ok? I heard you yelling when I came up!" Damn that kid had really bad timing. Seto unlatched his mouth from Jou's shoulder and Jounouchi's mouth opened and closed as he looked at Seto like he was crazy for stealing another kiss. Sure he felt happy about getting another but this was not consensual damnit! But Seto just lightly rested his head on Jou's shoulder and answered to Mokuba, "Yeah! Got back to your room and sleep!"

"Aww… but the monkey ruined my bed sheets and I was wondering if you have any new ones. Also the monkey was trying to kill me again!" Seto groaned. "I'll be right there." That Arabian monkey caused more trouble than Mokuba did when he was on a sugar rush. It ruined over 50 bed sheets in one month and the head servant told him that she wasn't going to give him anymore. So now he came to Seto for them now. In truth, the monkey and Mokuba were now sworn enemies and Mokuba couldn't kick it out because it would sneak back on its own.

While Seto was distracted, Jounouchi carefully eased off one of Seto's golden arm bracelets and slipped it into his pocket. Then he carefully slid his arm back into his shoulder. He figured that Seto wouldn't be missing it since he had a few others. Plus he was mad and confused and he wanted revenge. And a Jounouchi that was mad and confused and wanted revenge all at the same time equals him doing something utterly stupid. He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding when he slipped the golden thing unnoticed into his pocket.

Then he remembered that this wasn't what he came for. He came to get some answers so that he can finally get him off his mind. "Why'd you kiss me like all those other times?" Jounouchi whispered, his arms fell from Seto's shoulders and went limp. He rested his head against Seto's as Seto pulled him closer. "Spur of the moment?" Seto said weakly.

"So it didn't mean anything?" Jou whispered devastated feeling a pain and his heart break into two. It felt like someone had taken a stake and drove it right into his heart. "I don't really know…" Seto said. Then it shattered. Tears welled up in his eyes. Seto had just implied that he didn't like him and didn't know why he'd kiss him in the first place. Jounouchi didn't understand why it hurt so much or why he even cared anymore. A tear rolled down his left eye as he stared lifelessly at the moonlight shining through the balcony door as the curtains moved in the night wind. "Bro, are you coming?" Mokuba shouted.

"I need to go check on Mokuba." Seto said. He hadn't seen the tears Jounouchi shed. He let go of Jou and walked over to his discarded clothes. Jounouchi quickly wiped his tears away and watched with a pained expression as Seto walked back to him looking anywhere but at him. "Here." He said holding out some gold coins. Jounouchi looked a bit shocked. "I can't…"

"It'd last you a few days." Seto whispered. He didn't know if his puppy was in pain but he was. After he told him that he didn't know what he was doing, he felt like he made the biggest mistake of his life just telling him that. He also didn't know why he felt like this. He sure as hell didn't think it was love and was sure that Jounouchi didn't feel anything for him. But it hurt… a lot. Jounouchi reached out took the coins, gathered his stuff and whispered, "Bye." Then he began climbing down.

Seto stared out the balcony once again and watched him until he was a little speck of yellow in the distance. When Jounouchi was sure Seto couldn't see him anymore, he silently watched Seto as he whispered a word that went unheard to any man's ears, "Bye…" and turned away to go help his brother. Seto sighed as he touched what would have been where Jounouchi would be standing had he stayed and if Mokuba didn't interrupt them. Then he looked back to the spot on the palace grounds where he last saw Jounouchi. "Yeah Mokuba, I'm coming!" Then both turned away each in pain.


End file.
